Chicago White Sox at Colorado Rockies: Final Score & Recap

The Colorado Rockies defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-4 on February 23, 2026, at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, with Zac Veen delivering the decisive blow in the bottom of the ninth to secure the walk-off win. Colorado jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning but found themselves trailing or tied heading into the final frame after the White Sox mounted a two-run eighth inning to take a 4-4 advantage. The DiamondIQ model's estimate opened with Colorado as a 54% favorite at home, and by the final out it had reached 100%.

The game turned on two pivotal eighth-inning sequences that shifted momentum in opposite directions. Munetaka Murakami's double off Adam Laskey moved the needle most dramatically among White Sox hitters, adding 17.9% win probability, and Caden Connor followed with a single worth another 12.9%, helping Chicago build what appeared to be a decisive lead. However, Tristan Peters' sacrifice fly double play off Laskey swung 12.8% back toward Colorado, blunting the full damage of that rally. Cole Carrigg had earlier kept the Rockies in the game with a double off Ben Peoples in the seventh worth 12.5% win probability. Then, with the game tied at four in the bottom of the ninth, Veen launched a walk-off home run off Shane Murphy, a swing worth an extraordinary 45.9% win probability added that single-handedly closed the contest.

On the mound, Keegan Thompson led all pitchers with a 11.3% win probability contribution, with John Brebbia and Brandon Eisert adding 5.0% and 3.6% respectively in support. Murakami finished as the top White Sox contributor at plus-19.1% WPA with a plus-0.6 RE24, while Connor added plus-0.8 RE24 despite the loss. Colorado finished with fewer hits than Chicago, managing just six against eleven for the White Sox, but Veen's single swing made all the difference.